Abstract:

The current study investigated whether there were distinct subgroups of rural children who experienced different forms of aggression and victimization using Latent Profile Analysis (LPA), and whether these subgroups differed from one another in their different levels of school adaptation. Participants were children in grades 4-6 from rural central primary schools. It showed that, first, four subgroups were identified, including “high aggression-victimization subgroup” “high victimization subgroup” “medium aggression-victimization subgroup” and “low involvement subgroup”. Second, there was high degree of co-occurrence among four subgroups of aggression and victimization. Except the “high aggression-victimization subgroup”, all subgroups showed that indirect aggression was higher than direct aggression, and indirect victimization was higher than direct victimization. Third, there were significant differences in gender, grade and boarding status among different subgroups. Boys, lower grade and boarding students were more likely to be involved in school victimization. Fourth, in terms of school adaption, the scores of positive and negative emotions in “high aggression-victimization subgroup” were significantly higher than those in other subgroups. However, the scores of interpersonal relationship and academic achievement of “low involvement subgroup” were significantly better than those of other subgroups. Therefore, we should pay more attention to rural schools, pay attention to rural primary school students who are in “high aggression-victimization subgroup”, and carry out targeted intervention and prevention according to the characteristics of different subgroups and students' adaptation.

Key words: peer aggression, peer victimization, rural primary school students, Latent Profile Analysis